An overview of Restoration & Neoclassical
After the English Restoration of 1660 reopened the theatres, a wave of comedies of manners, heroic tragedies, and increasingly polished domestic dramas arrived from Britain and France. The Restoration stage introduced women actors for the first time in English-language theatre and made wit the supreme dramatic virtue. In France, Racine and Corneille perfected a high tragic style descended from Greek and Roman models, while Molière reinvented comedy as social anatomy.
Plays from this era (56)
- La Tontine — by Alain René Le Sage
- Lovers' Vows — by August von Kotzebue
- Tales from Shakespeare — by Charles Lamb
- The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4 Poems and Plays — by Charles Lamb
- Wilhelm Tell — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Robbers — by Friedrich Schiller
- Fiesco; or, the Genoese Conspiracy: A Tragedy — by Friedrich Schiller
- Love and Intrigue: A Tragedy — by Friedrich Schiller
- Wallenstein's Camp: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Piccolomini: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Death of Wallenstein — by Friedrich Schiller
- Don Carlos: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- Demetrius: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- Mary Stuart: A Tragedy — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Maid of Orleans: A Tragedy — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Bride of Messina, and On the Use of the Chorus in Tragedy — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Works of Frederick Schiller — by Friedrich Schiller
- Turandot: The Chinese Sphinx — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Illustrated Works of Friedrich Schiller A Linked Index to the Project Gutenberg Editions — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Female Gamester: A Tragedy — by Gorges Edmond Howard
- Minna Von Barnhelm — by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts — by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- The Works of Henry Fielding, vol. 12 — by Henry Fielding
- Egmont — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust — Part 1 — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust: a Tragedy [part 1], Translated from the German of Goethe — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Iphigenia in Tauris — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust: A Tragedy — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Beggar's Opera — by John Gay
- Comedies by Holberg : Jeppe of the Hill, The Political Tinker, Erasmus Montanus — by Ludvig Holberg
- Signora Fantastici (A Dramatic Proverb) — by Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine) Staël
- The Triple Marriage — by Néricault Destouches
- She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy — by Oliver Goldsmith
- The School for Scandal — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- St. Patrick's Day; Or, The Scheming Lieutenant: A Farce in One Act — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- The Duenna: A Comic Opera — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- A Trip to Scarborough; and, The Critic — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- The Rivals: A Comedy — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 01 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 06 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 07 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 08 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09 — by Robert Dodsley
- The Contrast — by Royall Tyler
- Socrates — by Voltaire
- Count Julian — by Walter Savage Landor
- Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare, Euseby Treen, Joseph Carnaby, and Silas Gough, Clerk — by Walter Savage Landor
- The Dramatic Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With a Life of the Author — by Walter Scott
- The Double-Dealer: A Comedy — by William Congreve
- The Old Bachelor: A Comedy — by William Congreve
- Love for Love: A Comedy — by William Congreve
- The Way of the World — by William Congreve
- Characters of Shakespeare's Plays — by William Hazlitt
- The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus Made into a Farce — by William Mountfort
Legacy & influence
Plays from Restoration & Neoclassical continue to define what working theatre artists assume a play is. Drama-school curricula are built around them; regional theatres programme at least one of them every season; high-school English departments teach them year after year because students respond to the structural clarity and the language. What looks at first like pious veneration of the canon is, on closer inspection, a working consensus among practitioners that these plays still teach us how the form actually works.